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Flights of the imagination: Black American travelers journey toward "Africa" in Ghana and Bahia, Brazil

FLIGHTS OF THE IMAGINATION:
BLACK AMERICAN TRAVELERS JOURNEY TOWARD AFRICA IN
GHANA AND BAHIA, BRAZIL
by
Michelle Denise Commander
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(AMERICAN STUDIES AND ETHNICITY)
August 2010
Copyright 2010 Michelle Denise Commander

This dissertation is a study of travel accounts produced by Black Americans as they journey toward imagined "Africas" to satiate a longing for origins through cultural roots tourism in and emigration to Ghana, West Africa, and Bahia, Brazil. I pose significant questions about Black American travel: Where is Africa? Is return feasible? What transpires when diasporans make identifications with and craft new lives in what they feel are authentic African homelands? Along the coastlines of Ghana and Bahia sit physical remnants of major embarkation points from which human cargo were distributed during the transatlantic slavetrade; these artifacts, coupled with myriad cultural elements throughout each region, have become prominent tourist attractions, drawing thousands of Black American travelers each year. While it is clear that there are historical reasons for these flows, little attention has been placed on why Black Americans in the post-civil rights era view these particular sites as ones of unusual promise and what larger forces—social, economic, and/or imagined—compel them to move toward Africa. Utilizing the narrative arc of travel, a central trope of Black American existence, I examine the ways in which they practice identification in order to realize their desire for home. I employ a multi-method approach for this project—one that is grounded in years of interviews and participant-observation of events including tour groups and expatriate organization meetings, and also relies on textual analyses of literary and historical material to understand the imaginary that underwrites these circuits. By exploring the under-studied narrative progression from tourist to expatriate—that is, how Black Americans grapple with what they presume they have lost and believe is recoverable through flight to Ghana and Bahia, I locate what lingers in roots tourists’ imaginations that induces repeat travel and permanent relocation.

FLIGHTS OF THE IMAGINATION:
BLACK AMERICAN TRAVELERS JOURNEY TOWARD AFRICA IN
GHANA AND BAHIA, BRAZIL
by
Michelle Denise Commander
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(AMERICAN STUDIES AND ETHNICITY)
August 2010
Copyright 2010 Michelle Denise Commander